My British Passport in Israel

My British passport expired last November. I had forgotten about the expiration date and thus neglected its renewal, until the Dubai incident. I therefore have from the British point of view an alibi, and from the Israeli point of view an excuse, for not having visited Dubai in the recent past.

As I write this, Israel radio is buzzing with the news that an Israeli diplomat is to be expelled from Britain over the Dubai incident. This places Anglo-Jewry in the dual-loyalty scenario, and as I’m not part of it I wish them the wisdom to pass through the incident without incident.

But quite frankly, I think that the matter should be settled on a purely commercial basis. If, as Britain claims, Mossad creates such perfect forgeries that none of them were detected when they were used, maybe Mossad should offer Britain a reduced rate for production of British passports, that will most probably undercut the price charged by the current, official British passport printers.